Disintegrating ammunition for machine gun and cannon



July 11,

1961 R. M. FERGUSON 2,991,718

DISINTEGRATING AMMUNITION FOR MACHINE GUN AND CANNON Filed June 15, 1959IN V EN TOR.

RALPH M. FERG USON United States Patent 2,991,718 DISINTEGRATINGAMMUNITION FOR MACHINE GUN AND CANNON Ralph M. Ferguson, Dayton, Ohio,assignor t the United States of America as represented by the Secretaryof the Air Force Filed June 15, 1959, Ser. No. 820,562 3 Claims. (Cl.102-91) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), sec. 266) Theinvention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for theUnited States Government for governmental purposes without payment to meof any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to disintegrating ammunition for testing firecontrol systems and more particularly to the construction of the bulletor slug.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the necessity forconstructing expensive firing butts, wide angle and all angle ranges inorder to test fire control systems at both manufacturers plants andmilitary installations.

A further object of the present invention is to provide disintegratingammunition for testing machine guns, cannons and accessories theretosuch as solenoids, boosters, heaters and chargers without the cost ofconstruction of expensive testing ranges. It is a still further objectof the invention to provide disintegrating ammunition that, when fired,will produce identical forces on the structure of the aircraft, gunmounts and other parts of the mounting structure as standard ball ortest type ammunition.

According to the present invention the bullet or slug comprises a thinsubstantially conically shaped outer shell, weighting means within saidouter shell to provide accurate weight for said slug, and means closingthe open end of said outer shell to prevent discharge of the weightingmeans.

These and other objects and features of the present invention aredescribed below in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the bullet or slug of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an end vieW of the bullet or slug of the present invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawings wherein like reference numeralsdisingnate like parts and more particularly to FIG. 1 there is shown thebullet or slug of the present invention generally designated having athin outer shell 12 of approximately of an inch in thickness. A drivingband 14 is formed integral with said thin outer shell near the trailingend of the slug, said driving band 14 has a shoulder I16 positioned toabut the front edge of the charge containing cartridge casing (notshown).

The thin outer shell 12 of the slug is filled with loose material 18which may be any of a number of weighting materials such as powderedlead, lead shot or lead fragments. The loose material 18 is retainedwithin the thin Patented July 11, 1961 ice outer shell 12 by means ofpaper wadding 20 which is inserted into the open end 22 of the shell 12.

In operation, the preferred embodiment of the present invention willcomprise a thin outer shell 12, 7 of an inch thick, and constructed inthe form of a casted alloy shell consisting of bismuth, 25% lead, 12 /2%tin and 12 /2 cadmium, by weight, which will have a melting point ofapproximately 149 F. When the slug 10 is fired the heat of the explodingcharge and barrel friction will cause the thin outer shell 12 to beheated to a temperature near its melting point thus reducing the outershell 12 to a putty-like consistency. As the slug 10 leaves the gunbarrel it will be subjected to approximately 600 p.s.i. of pressure andair friction wich will complete the destruction of the thin outer shell12, thus permitting the powdered lead or other weight-producing material18 along with the paper wadding 20 to be scattered over a relativelysmall area near the barrel of the weapon.

The weight-producing material (18 is necessary to the proper functioningof the test ammunition since the weight of the test ammunition must bethe same as an actual round to produce identical recoil and shockcharacteristics on the weapon being fired.

The present invention has been described in detail above tor the purposeof illustration only and is not intended to be limited by thisdescription or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A disintegrating projectile of the type described comprising a thinouter metal shell, said metal shell being a cast alloy of 50% bismuth,25% lead, l2 /2% tin and 12 /2 cadmium, by weight, approximately of aninch thick, powdered lead disposed within said thin metal shell toapproximate the weight of a standard projectile, and means sealing saidpowdered lead within said thin outer metal shell.

2. A distintegrating projectile according to claim 1 wherein saidsealing means consists of paper wadding.

3. A disintegrating projectile of the type described com prising abullet-shaped thin outer metal shell approximately of an inch thick,said metal shell being a cast alloy of 50% bismuth, 25% lead, 12 /z% tinand 12V2% cadmium by weight, and means contained within said thin metalshell to approximate the weight of standard round.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,782,717 Burri Feb. 26, 1957 2,850,978 Franklin Sept. 9, 1958 FOREIGNPATENTS 5,204 Great Britain AD. 1912 215,008 Great Britain Ian. 8, 1925OTHER REFERENCES Marks Handbook, third edition, second impression,McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1930, page 673, Lionel S. Marks, editorin chief. (Copy in Div. 10.)

1. A DISINTEGRATING PROJECTILE OF THE TYPE DESCRIBED COMPRISING A THINOUTER METAL SHELL, SAID METAL SHELL BEING A CAST ALLOY OF 50% BISMUTH,25% LEAD, 12 1/2% TIN AND 12 1/2% CADMIUM, BY WEIGHT, APPROXIMATELY 3/64OF AN INCH THICK, POWDERED LEAD WITHIN SAID THIN OUTER TO APPROXIMATETHE WEIGHT OF A STANDARD PROJECTILE, AND MEANS SEALING SAID POWDEREDLEAD WITHIN SAID THIN OUTER METAL SHELL.